Jobless rate drops to 2.29% in first half

The jobless rate in Vietnam stood at 2.29 percent in the first six months of this year, compared to 2.58 percent in the same period last year, a senior official said.

Nguyen Thi Xuan Mai, head of the Population and Labour Department under the General Statistics Office, said that in the first half of 2012, unemployment in urban areas fell to 3.62 percent from 3.96 percent in the same period last year and in rural areas to 1.65 percent from 2.02 percent.

Meanwhile, in the first half of the year, 3.06 percent of labourers were underemployed, Mai said, adding that the figure stood at 1.92 percent in urban areas and 3.6 percent in rural areas.

The unemployment rate in Vietnam is on par with those in other countries in the region and much lower than those in many developing and developed countries such as South Africa (25 percent), Iran (11.5 percent), the Netherlands (9.6 percent), Spain (21.6 percent), and France (9.3 percent).

Vietnam now has 47.1 million people of working age, up 0.6 percent against the same period last year. Of that total, female workers account for 46.3 percent.

In an effort to boost social welfare, the Prime Minister has authorised favourable loans for poor students.

Meanwhile, the monthly minimum wage has increased from VND830,000 ($39) to VND1.05 million ($47).